Rescued
by 100Percent Shipper
Summary: Root rescues Shoot.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: I've had this sitting around for a while and realised I am never going to write the epic long-fic I set out to write and so I've made this into a 3 chapter story of Root rescuing Shaw and it's more of an excuse for me to make Root smirk and Shaw grimace. Haha. No sexy-times just fyi.

This was written before Root made friends again with team-machine (so, yes, this fic has been sitting around for about a year!). Enjoy!

As ever - no beta and I make mistakes, you are warned. Also reviews = a golden shower of heavenly light brought on the wings of angels to warm my heart and make me smile.

She felt it as if the spray of bullets had pieced her own flesh, her heart suspended in her chest between that moment and the next. Shock, even though she knew it was always a possibility, that it was collateral damage in her line of work. But not her, God no, not Sameen.

A guttural scream echoed away to nothing against the metallic grey walls of the elevator and it took a moment before she realised it had come from her own mouth. The skin on her fingers felt raw from where they had scraped against the mesh wire as she'd been pulled away. She was man-handled out of the elevator and down corridors. At some point she remembered to breath. She began to struggle against Fosko's hold. His face was apologetic but his hand clamped like a vice and all her begging to be let go didn't stop him from pushing her into the back seat of the waiting car, taking her weapon off her as he did so. Damn it, the door was central locked, she couldn't get out and then they were squealing out of the alley way, away from Wall Street Trade Centre, and away from the only thing that mattered in this world.

With Reese bleeding out next to her, his face pallid, sweat at his hairline, she began to savagely kick the driver's in front of her, demanding the car to stop. Finch turned around and shoved something into her leg. Her vision dimmed and then darkness.

They would pay for that.

xxx

The human body's biological clock isn't quite in sync with the twenty-four hours in the day. Which meant that in this windowless concrete holding cell, Sameen had no way of knowing what time of day it was when she heard the sound of gunfire muffled though the walls. She sat up on the edge of her cot, the thin blanket wrapped around her shoulder, wincing as her body protested. The room spun. She gripped the cold metal frame and sucked in a breath. She listened to the sound coming closer. She sat there marking the approach, listening as it grew close. Then she moved from her seated position to press up against the wall by the metal door of her cell just as she heard five rounds explode against it. A pause. Another round of firing, each bullet pinging harshly against concrete. The door swung open. By reflex her hands reached out, hitting the gun that emerged onto the ground and maneuvering the body up against the wall, her arm pushing into the throat of the intruder. She leaned in, using her body weight to pin them, her face inches away from their balaclava clad face.

"Hello, sweetie." rasped a familiar voice.

,

"Root?"

Shaw pulled up the balaclava. Brown hair cascaded down around her face and in the dim light of a 30 watt bulb their eyes locked. Shaw saw layers of fleeting emotions play out in Root's eyes. She tried to grasp them but couldn't, they were elusive, chased away by the roar in her chest. Root, here, alive and rescuing her was something she hadn't dared to hope for and something she would never voice so instead she said:

"Took you long enough."

Root's face shifted again and settled into a breath-taking smile.

"Miss me, Sameen?"

"Like I miss getting shot in the gut." she said though the words held no bite.

"I still love your similes." she purred.

The corner of Shaw's mouth quirked up. She felt the initial rush in her chest settle into a satisfaction at how they fell into easy banter. In the moments when she'd lain curled up and battered she had thought of Root and wondered how it would be, should she make it out of this hell hole.

A beat.

"You can let me go now, you know…"

Shaw narrowed her eyes and then huffed, stepping back much to Roots amusement who then extracted a pile of black clothes from her backpack and handed them to Shaw.

"Get undressed."

Before Shaw could raise an eyebrow Root was poking her head around the door.

"John, how's it looking?" she asked and a finger pressing to her ear to hear the response above echoing gunfire. And then she was reloading her gun.

"Okay." Shaw said after she'd buttoned her jeans. Root swung around, moved forward taking both Shaw's hands in hers.

"Woah, a little heavy on the PDA, don't ya think?"

"Shhh" Root said, turning the hands over and bushing her thumbs over the soft skin of her wrists. "I'm looking to see if they've implanted a tracker in you."

Her fingers slowed as they grasped her pinkies, down the broken angle, and Shaw saw her bite her lip.

"It's healed." Shaw said and watched Root nod her eyes masked by shadows.

Then she stepped in closer, pulling Shaw's hair away , leaning in to look, trailing her fingers behind her ears, down her neck.

"Did they perform any operations on you, Sameen?"

Root's breath tickled against her goosebump flesh.

"I can't be sure. They sedated me at various points."

"Have you noticed any marks anywhere on your body that might be an incision?"

Shaw paused a moment, her mouth moving to speak

"I could always do a more… thorough search, if need be…" Root hummed by her ear.

"No." Shaw said and shifted uncomfortably "No marks."

Root stepped back, pulling out her hairtie, hands threading into her hair, fingertips searching, nails scraping on her scalp and she could smell Root, the delicate hint of bergamot and orange that must be her shampoo. With their height different Shaw was staring at Roots chest so she lifted her gaze to observe her as she worked. The fingers stopped their progress and she looked down to meet Shaws gaze.

"Did they hurt you?" she asked with somber eyes.

Before Shaw could answer, gun fire echoed down the corridor too close for comfort. Roots eyes shifted as she listened to a voice in her ear.

"We're on our way, John."

Root extracted a couple of guns from a backpack and threw them at her.

"As much I would like to continue exploring, Sameen, we need to move."

xxx

Joining Reese at the end of the corridor with a firm nod they began to blaze their way to the exit. Calm and precise they aimed and fired, dropping the Decima operatives like flies. They moved in formation, a slick trio. It felt so good to shoot shit again. They were rounding the corner that led to the exit when a large man appeared with muscles that rippled beneath his shirt and a gun in his hand. Shaw's face turned to thunder and she snatched the gun that Reese had just finished loading, striding towards the man, firing as she went. She got him in the knee and then in the arm. He cried out as he fell.

"Not so tough now, huh?"

She pushed the barrel against his forehead, her trigger finger twitching.

"Sameen?"

"Meet my dear friend, Paul, Root. We've spent a bunch of time together, haven't we, Paul?"

Shaw could see death in his gaze. He said nothing watching her though gritted teeth and she pressed the barrel harder onto his forehead, pushing him down until he was lying on the concrete.

"Shall we play a game, Paul?" she rasped. She wanted to crush his skull with the butt of her gun, gouge out his eyes, make him bleed an agonizing death.

"Sam, we have operatives rounding the corner." Root's slender fingers wrapped around her arm. Shaw's hand shook as two impulses warred. She could hear the foot fall of the approaching enemy and at the last moment she put a bullet though his other shoulder instead, Root pulling her away as the Decima agents rounded the corridor. They made it to a back door. Root handed Shaw a pile of thick winter clothing.

"Wrap up, sweetie. It's minus forty outside."

"Where the hell are we?"

"Northern Ontario, Canada."

"Peachy."

They looked like two marshmellow men as they played shoot the bad guys to give Reese the time to wrap up too. Shaw was disappointed to see Paul had dragged himself out of the line of fire.

Once mummified in their gear, they exited the door, emerging into the depths of a night-time blizzard. The building and its lights quickly disappeared amongst a swirl of snowflakes and it was impossible to see or hear if anyone was pursuing them. Root made a beeline into the darkness, John coming up from behind, their guns still at the ready, their gazes sweeping. Shaw almost stumbled over Root when she stopped abruptly and heard the muted crack of gunshot. A figure crumpled to the ground, the light in his hand rolling into the snow. The person Root had shot was already dissapearing beneath a layer of snow. She felt Root's gloved hand pull her along until they reached a barbwired fence. John let off a few more rounds before joining the two of them through a hole in the fence.

Shaw could hear her breath amplified behind her balaklav. She was walking blind but her two colleagues seemed to know exactly where they were going. Within a few minutes they arrived at a cluster of trees and pulled away some tree branches, revealing two snow mobiles. Root stepped in close to her ear.

"Jump on." She said through the howling of the wind.

The snowmobiles roared into life. They spead along the tree line before abrubtly swerving right into the trees and navigating along what would normally have been a forest road. Past her eye-mask snowflakes whipping away into the darkness. The lights of the snowmobile reached only a few feet in front so they were driving almost blind. The wind pierced into her snowsuit. She shivered and held on tighter to Root's waist.

"What's happening?" she said when Root slowed down to a stop some time later. They veered to the left and down a decline some one hundred yards.

"I think it's this way…"

"Uh…can't you ask the machine?"

"She and I aren't exactly on talking terms anymore." Root said tightly.

"Well, can't you ask Finch?"

"I'm not exactly talking to him either."

Shaw frowned.

"We're doing this the old fashioned way, Sameen." Root continued and then turned to Reese. "Can you see it?"

They hummed forward, following the tree line a few more yards, shining a light at the tree trunks until Shaw spotted something tied around one of them.

"Is that it?"

A red scarf encrusted with snow moving stiffly in the wind. Root stopped the snowmobile and jumped off, sinking up to her calves in powder. She waded over, untied it and returned. She brushed white flakes off, stepping up to Shaw.

"There." She said, tipping her head as she wound it around Shaw's neck.

Root's face was lit by the glow of the headlights and Shaw could see the edges of her eyes crinkle into a smile from behind her eye mask.

"Thanks. Nothing like a frozen scarf to keep me warm."

Root chuckled and climbed back on. "If you want to keep warm don't be shy, Sameen. Nothing quite like body heat you know."

"Oh goodie." Shaw replied.

Reese took the lead now, sliding by the tree they'd marked and zig-zagging through the forest. Every bump made her grit her teeth as it rippled through her rib-cage and grip the front of Shaw's jacket like a life-line, wishing she was the one driving this thing because at least then she'd be doing something to distract herself. She felt like a damsel in distress, saved by her knight on the back of their valiant steed and if she hadn't felt so damned tired and light-headed from pain, she would have been pissed off at that.

She couldn't tell how long it took – the nights mixed with snow and wind seemed to bend time until it felt they'd been weaving through trees for an eternity, the ghostly grey trunks swimming in and out of her vision. Every now and then she felt Root's gloved hand come to rest on hers as if to make sure she was still there. She swayed and dipped into a slip-stream where she half believed that they were driving through an inter-dimensional rip away from the compound that had imprisoned her, away from Decima and Samaritan. This didn't feel quite real. Maybe it was a dream and she'd wake up tied to a chair in her cell, the stench of piss, shit and sweat burning her nostrils.

Finally they slowed and Shaw blinked to see a small wooden cabin in front of them. They parked the two snow-mobiles at the front door and dismounted stiffly, Shaw sucking in her breath as she pulled her leg over the seat, the pain sharp in her side, her limbs as heavy as lead.

A fire had died down to embers in the stone fireplace. Root moved to a table in the far corner, lighting some candles throwing a feeble light across the room illuminating food wrappers, cans of food, a packet of cards, guns and ammunition. Two cots lined the walls with crumpled sleeping bags. At the foot of each rucksacks spilled out with clothes creating lumpy shadows that danced on blinds drawn down over windows. The air was chilly enough to condense their breaths as they removed their head gear but at least each inhilation didn't burn her lungs. Reese moved to the fire place and threw some kindling on, prodding red embebers with the poker until one of the twigs caught fire. He arranged a few logs of wood that he grabbed from a neat stack against the wall.

"Cozy." Shaw said to break the silence. Then she removed her gloves and blew on her frozen finger tips and gruffly said; "Thanks, by the way. For coming for me."

"Welcome, Shaw," Reese grunted looking vaguley constipated, "doing numbers suck without you."

He got up, grabbing a large bucket and pulled his balaclava over his face again. He stalked to the door and exited, the door banging shut with the force of the wind, a flurry of snow slipping in between the momentay gap. A hot shiver climbed her spin. She felt Roots eyes on her and when she looked they were two black, glistening pools, devouring her. Root slinked forward. Shaw scowled and rocked back as Root leaned into her space, the cold, red tip of her nose seeping dangerously close to the line of her jaw as she slipped her hands into the pockets of Shaw's snowsuit, bending down to plum their deepths.

"Here." Root said brandishing two hand warmers. She cracked them and, taking Shaw's hands gently, pressed one into each palm before retreating to the table. She picked up a bottle, pouring amber liquid into two plastic turquoise cups one of which she held out.

"Some brandy to warm you cockles." she said with a little smile and took a sip of her cup. Shaw downed hers in a gulp. She blinked, her eyes burning.

They edged towards the fire, shoulders bumping as they crouched down and watched orange flames lick the sides of the logs, crackling as they curled around splinters.

"Should have brought marshmallows." Root said dreamily.

The door opened and Reese stamped his feet on the doormat, flakes drifting down onto the wooden floor. The bucket was full of snow and he scooped a quantity of it into a wrought iron pot. The two women parted as he leaned over to hang it over the fire and he crouched in close to warm himself. He looked to Shaw who was feeling uncomfortable at becoming the center of attention.

"How you doing?" he asked.

"Just peachy, Reese." Shaw said fuzzily. The brandy was making her head spin.

"You don't look so good."

Shaw snorted. "Thanks. Prison does that to a gal."

She probably looked like shit but she didn't much care.

"No, as in you look flushed."

She was feeling warm. She blinked again and registered the dull ach up the back of her neck and behind her eyes, making her vision swim. Her back burned and felt sticky against her top. She felt Roots cool hand press against her forehead.

"Come on" Root said, pulling her to standing. "Bed-time for you."

"Pffff. I'm fine…" Shaw said and tried to swat away the other woman's hands but missed. She swayed, black dots peppering her vision. Her legs buckled, collapsing her into Roots arms.

"If you wanted a cuddle, sweetie, you had only ask." were the last words she heard as things faded into black.

Xxxx

She surfaced momentarily, laid out on a sleeping bag, her face pressed into the material that smelled like Root. The gentle pressure of a warm wet cloth on her bare back which made her hiss in pain.

"Oh, sweetie." She heard an angry voice drifting through layers of cotton wool. "Should have killed him when you had the chance."

"The storm has broken. We'll make a move at sundown." A gruff voice said.

She felt the pin prick of a needle pierce her skin. She gripped the sleeping bag, gave a strangled cry and passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

_She was feeling warm. She blinked again and registered the dull ach up the back of her neck and behind her eyes, making her vision swim. Her back burned and felt sticky against her top. She felt Roots cool hand press against her forehead._

 _"_ _Come on" Root said, pulling her to standing. "Bed-time for you."_

 _"_ _Pffff. I'm fine…" Shaw said and tried to swat away the other woman's hands but missed. She swayed, black dots peppering her vision. Her legs buckled, collapsing her into Roots arms._

 _"_ _If you wanted a cuddle, sweetie, you had only ask." were the last words she heard as things faded into black._

 _Xxxx_

 _She surfaced momentarily, laid out on a sleeping bag, her face pressed into the material that smelled like Root. The gentle pressure of a warm wet cloth on her bare back which made her hiss in pain._

 _"_ _Oh, sweetie." She heard an angry voice drifting through layers of cotton wool. "Should have killed him when you had the chance."_

 _"_ _The storm has broken. We'll make a move at sundown." A gruff voice said._

 _She felt the pin prick of a needle pierce her skin. She gripped the sleeping bag, gave a strangled cry and passed out._

 _Xxx_

She felt movement as two strong arms lifted her up. She was swaddled up and sweating. Icy air hit her face and she struggled to open her eyes. They felt like they were glued together and it was like she was swimming through thick molasses. When she finally, through what felt like super-human strength, cracked her eyelids all she could see was white everywhere and it she winced. She was placed on something soft, somewhere warm and heard the slamming of a door. An engine roared to life. She slipped away once more as she was jostled about.

Xxx

Her ear was pressed against a warm thigh and she felt her mother's fingers threading through her hair. She was safe under the rumbling of the car. She thought she could hear her father humming as he drove in the front seat and she wondered where they were going and how long until they got there. She hoped it was home. Maybe she'd get a bed time story if she managed to wake herself up enough. She shifted and slid a hot hand out of the covers, moving across her mother's leg.

"Look, Sameen," her mother's voice said, only it wasn't her mother, "look out the window."

The voice was reverent. Shaw opened her eyes and waited for them to adjust to the dark. She looked up and saw the Northern Lights dancing in the sky like green, translucent snakes. They softly lit the face of an angel with wide eyes and pouting lips. She stared up until her eyes drooped again, the fingers in her hair soothing her asleep.

The car sped along the snow covered country road beneath the dancing heavens.

Xxx

She was ravenous and there was sawdust in her mouth. Her sinuses were stuffed, her back felt raw, her side ached but at least her fever had broken. She was propped up against the car door. They were a few kilometers outside of some god-forsaken town in the northern reaches of nowhere Ontario, parked outside the house of the person who owned the SVU she was in. It was 7.30am and the sun had yet to rise over this land muted by snow. The edges of the night sky were fading in preparation and it was so very, very still. Reese was having a chat with the middle-aged owner on his porch, probably suggesting that they had never been here and pressing more bright plastic Canadian dollars into his hand than was probably warranted. It was peaceful. Shaw's eyes had only drifted closed a moment when she heard the sound of the car door opening.

"Here. Drink this."

Root was holding out a steaming cup and Shaw took it.

"Chicken noodle soup." She said wrapping both hands around it.

"Yeah. "

Shaw blew on the liquid, feeling oddly touched.

"Thank you."

She took a moment, as she peered over the cup to really look at Root for the first time since her rescue. In the grey light or the burgeoning day she could see bags under eyes and the thin red capillaries in the white of her eyes. She wondered how long it had taken for her and Reese to orchestrate her rescue without the machine and without Finch.

"Why aren't you talking to Her?"

Root was looking out the window at Reese as he shook the man's hand before striding down the steps and kept silent.

"And what about Finch?"

At that Root turned and gave her an odd little smile.

"We couldn't risk Samaritan tracking us. So we're on radio silence until we get back to New York."

"So far so good, I guess."

"Yes. So it seems."

Before Shaw could dig deeper Reese was opening the passenger door and climbing in.

"The weather forecast looks good for the next twenty-four hours or so. We're on the move." He said. The man slid into the driver's seat and they're bumping along the snow covered road. By the time they arrived at the end of the road the sun was spilling over its golden light around the edges of the world.

Root was out the door and shouldering her pack.

"You good to walk?" Reese asked as Shaw pulled herself to standing and feeling the headrush of low blood pressure.

"I'm not crippled." She said.

"You've been malnourished, you have deep lacerations on your back, a couple of broken ribs and you just spent 24 hours delirious."

"So?"

"I could carry you."

Shaw rolls her eyes. "I'll be fine."

As the sound of the truck faded it was the sound of crunching snow and their heavy breaths, plumes of moisture falling from their lips. Shaw was struggling but she would be damned if she was going to let Reese carry her. They were walking across fields that edged the mouth of Moose River and Hudson Bay, as the sun was climbing, warming up the day and there was something magical seeing the snow catching the light, of lonely naked trees with their gnarled branches reaching out, of the transparent ice that edged the river. After months of darkness and artificial light something moved inside Shaw and she was so fucking grateful for the woman in front of her and the man behind and she didn't even know how to express that, words were inadequate. She couldn't tell if it was that or the stabbing pain that had her eyes watering.

As if by telepathy Root stopped and from a pocket she pulled some heavy duty painkillers and she gave them to Shaw. She swallowed them dry and they continued. She thought she was going to faint when they finally rounded a clump of trees and there it sat, bobbing on the ocean, a tiny white and red seaplane. She would have snorted at their getaway vehicle if she hadn't felt like it she would keel over.

At the water's edge Shaw's strength gave out. She rested on a boulder while the other two unearthed an inflatable row boat that they'd turned upside down and covered in a white tarpaulin. Reese pulled her up and pretty much carried her over, depositing her in the boat. Shaw tried to grumble but everything hurt and it came out as more of a pained sigh. She leaned against the rucksacks and listened to the sounds of oars splashing in the water and looking at the blue of the sky. Root sat by her and her cool hand edged under her hat to rest on her forehead, moving to her cheek with an intimacy that Shaw couldn't quite bring herself to hate .

As she climbed into the seaplane she felt stitches pulling in her back. She collapsed into the single back seat. It faced sideways, wedged between the back of the cockpit and the pilot's seat and the rucksacks sardined her in and she waited as Root and Reese filled the tank with gas, deflated the boat, moving silently and efficiently like the well oiled team they had become. Through slitted eyes she watched as Root finally climbed in and turned around, gently placing ear mufflers on her head.

"Safety first." She murmured before turning back to begin the pre-flight checks. The single engine roared to life. Shaw's stomach churned, falling away as gravity pulled on her. She dozed fitfully the feeling of nausea growing stronger until she mumbled urgently, reaching for anything to throw up in. Reese swiveled around and held her hair back while she regurgitated the chicken noodle soup into a plastic bag he held out for her. After washing her mouth out she curled up in the chair and slept.

The sun was almost at the horizon when she awoke again. The drone of the engine racketed about. As she shifted she saw that Reese was conked out and it was Root, still awake, holding the flight stick and guiding them home. Shaw watched the silky honey brown wave of her hair. A finger lifted to touch a strand that fell over the back of the seat. Root jumped, Shaw's hand snapping back and the plane wobbled a moment before Root brought it back into line. She turned around, her eyes warm and smiled tiredly at her.

"We're landing soon!" she shouted over the din. Shaw looked out the window and saw the landscape had shifted from endless white to frosted rolling hills, barren trees and nestled lakes. They landed on a small lake and ferried to a jetty, cutting off the engine and letting the silence finally settle. Reese was awake now, rubbing his face.

"Where are we?" Shaw asked.

"Just south of Syracuse in New York state."

At that moment Reese quite suddenly swung the door open and was climbing around the plane to stand on the jetty. He pulled out a gun and aimed it at a man who had walked into view, his shot-gun trained on them.

"You better explain yourself!" The man called out, "or I'll shoot."

"I wouldn't do that because I've got a jumpy finger and I don't miss my mark." Reese warned. "Now I'm going to pull out a envelope from inside my jacket and there's $2,500 in it for you to say thanks for lending your seaplane."

"I didn't lend nothing to you."

"All the same. You let us get out of your hair and it's yours. Don't call the cops we'll wire you another $2,500."

Root had climbed out of the plane and pulled her own gun, drawing level with Reese. Shaw went to climb over the to the front seat in her instinct to back them up but she moved and her back burned hot and her aching ribs left her breathless. She cursed and pulled out her gun, aiming it though the open door. She could see the man wavering. The barrel of his gun dipped a few degrees and Reese took this as a sign, lowering his own weapon and inching forward, holding out the envelope he'd slowly extracted from his breast pocket. The man took the envelope, leafing though the contents and then waved them off with his gun.

"Get out of here." He hissed and stood like this until they'd removed their gear and were walking across a field headed south. So much fucking walking and the pain in Shaws side seemed amplified from the injuries and the simple fact she'd been holed up for so many months in a tiny cell. By the time they reached the Black SUV hidden off a dirt road behind some trees, the sun was gone and only a hint of light remained in the sky.

"Can you drive?" Root asked Reese and her question came out uncharactiristically flat. She didn't wait for an answer before collapsing into the back seat, eyes closing and her breath deepening even before they'd pulled out onto the dusty road. As they drove to New York, Shaw looking back to Root's sleeping on the back seat, at the street lights moving in stripes across her face and Shaw didn't think she'd eve seen her looks so...vulnerable. She looked so decidedly human, her arm curled to her chest, propped up against her rucksack, face in an uneasy rest. There was a furrow between her eyebrows and Shaw wanted to smooth it away with the pad of her thumb because it shouldn't be there.


	3. Chapter 3

Root woke up three hours later as they entered New York city, rubbing her sleepy eyes and instructed John to drive to his place. As he was about to exit the car Shaw grabbed his wrist and said thank you to which he merely smiled with thin lips and nodded. As he entered his building Root slid into the driver's seat.

"To the subway?"

"No." Root said without elaborating.

When they parked in a quiet residential street, Shaw slid out gingerly. She followed Root up the concrete steps to the front door of an red brick apartment building, up the elevator to the 7th level, down a carpeted corridor that was probably been laid a decade or two before. Root slid a key into the lock.

"Home, sweet home." she sing-songed and dropped her rucksack at the entrance and turned on the lights.

Shaw paused a moment, taking it in. This could have been her old apartment. Open plan, her bed in the centre of what should probably be her living room, her fridge (she checked that later and there was her personal stash of weapons plus a carton of milk, eggs and a box of half eaten take-out.) and that crappy old table she'd inherited for free from her landlord. She looked to Root, her eyes narrowed and questioning. She got a shrug in return.

"Your old flat was compromised when you're cover was blown but I figured you'd appreciate having your things when you got back." she said airily as if it was no big deal.

Shaw tried not to think about how much work must have gone into getting this ready.

"This place is in the shadow map and you can make it to the subway undetected if you follow the route I highlighted. The map is on the table."

Shaw had drifted to the night stand and she'd picked up a thick book that lay there. The Luminaries by Ellie Catton.

"This isn't mine." she said.

"It's mine." Root said and cleared her throat, her eyes darting away and then coming back to find Shaw's.

Shaw watched curiously as Root's cheeks flushed. She's suddenly aware of her spatial environment in an entirely new way, of how the distance between her and Root extrapolated out into the universe and somehow they are both near and far from one another. It felt significant.

"You know, keeping your bed warm for you.." Root was saying as she shifted her weight as well as her tone to an innuendo filled purr. The moment collapsed into itself and Shaw knew what her role in this little tug of war was. She huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Don't tell me the idea of me in you bed is so...unattractive." Root continued as she sauntered forward, invading Shaw's space as casually as she always did. She leaned in to breath "After all, you did kiss me."

"And I though I was going to die."

Root lingered only a second, dark eyes unreadable before she brushed past to the bathroom.

"I think it's time to check those bandages." She called out behind her and disappearing though a door. Shaw heard the bath running. The mirror was already fogging up with steam when she entered to see Roots fingers trailing though the water as she sat on the edge. Shaw wondered if it was meant for her or for Root and the thought of Root running her a bath felt ... intimate.

"Here. Let me." Root said rising, her damp fingers unzipping her jacket and pushing it down her arms. Shaw swatted her hands away as it fell to the floor.

"I can do this myself, you know."

"You can barely lift you arms up to chest level." Root said, grasping the sleeve of the jumper. "Arm." she said and waited patiently for Shaw to reconcile herself to the situation. Billows of steam rose up behind her and the thunder of water pouring out the faucet echoed against the tiled walls. Shaw scowled before gingerly extracting one arm and then another. She turned her face away affecting disinterest as Root then shimmied the clothing up her body and over her head leaving her in a black wife-beater. She turned around, feeling the material lift, feeling Roots slender fingers brushing her skin as she gently pulled away the taped down gauze. Shaw sucked in her breath. She glanced in the mirror to see Roots profile as she leaned forward, examining the bruised flesh and ugly red gashes on her back. The stitches carefully sewn by Root's hands, feeling her leaning close enough for her breath to send a shiverdown Shaw's spine.

"It needs to be cleaned again. But it doesn't look too bad. Does it hurt?"

"I'll live." Shaw growled

Root pulled the top over her head and dropped it to the ground.

"Pants off, Sameen." Root said and she moved to turn the tap off. The silence that followed seemed obscene, all the more noticeable by their breathing that now filled the space.

"I'll get the iodine. I'll be back in a moment." Root said and left Shaw to undress. She did this quickly, climbing into the bathtub, plonking herself down into the water, knees to the chest. A few long moments while she strained to hear Root in the other room and then the sticky sound of the door opening, feet padding across the floor. She started when she heard the sound of towel drop and feet dipping into the water behind her.

"Root! What the hell are you doing?" Shaw hissed turning her head around. She saw a long smooth thigh before she snapped back around.

"I didn't pin you for the prudish type, Sameen."

"I'm not prudish, for fuck's sake, but we kissed once and suddenly you think bathing together is okay?"

"How else am I meant to clean your wounds? Besides," Root said before Shaw could find a retort, "I'm feeling a little dirty after our little trip. Two birds, one stone." Root's voice hummed.

She sat down and the water level rose a few inches and Shaw saw two long legs appear either side of her hips, white legs turning pink from the heat. Roots toes flexed a little and she looked at them moving through the water. _This little piggie went to market_... She wanted to grab one of them between her thumb and index finger and squeeze it viciously but she didn't. Shaw didn't do baths with anyone. She was remembering why Root aggravated her so much, her casual disregard for boundaries and personal space, the memory of which had seemed to fade with time and the concrete walls of her recent confinement.

"You try anything, Root, and I end you."

Root was silent as she wrung out the cloth and Shaw felt it be gently pressed against her back. She hugged her legs but in spite of herself she felt her body grow soft, her chin coming to rest on her knees. Her eyes began to droop, feeling the sting of water and the weave of the cloth against her sensitized skin. A hand moved to sweep her ponytail aside coming to rest on the bone that jutted out of her shoulder, fingertips idily stroking and Shaw's breath huffed out long and slow and it it felt as through she'd been holding her breath. In this stillness she felt like she was still on the snowmobile, the dip and sway, her arms holding tight to Root's waist. She felt fuzzy brained, silence buzzing in her ear loud like the roar of the engine. Distantly she felt the cloth laid out to cover her skin, water on her head, the snap of plastic and then finger massaging her scalp. The tangy lemon of the shampoo filled her nostrils, vaguley aware that this was her shampoo and the disquieting knowing that this was all together too intimate and she should stop it. But she didn't, she lets Root tend to her like she were a little girl and she drifted inbetween the vapours of the water.

"Wakey, wakey, Sameen." a voice murmurs in her ear and she realised she'd fallen asleep somewhere between the soap suds and hair conditioner. She blinked slowly watched the water level fall as Root steped out of the bath. Pruney fingers reached out to clasp her hand as she stepped out of the bathtub. She looked at Root rat drowned and smelling of soap, at eyes that were dark and deep,eyes rimmed with emotion. She watched a water droplet slide down the side of her face and hung off the edge of her jaw. Her finger rose to wipe it away and watched curiously as Root's iris expanded and an electrical heat seemed to zap between them. It occurred to her that they were both naked and inches away from each other but Root didn't seemed to want to press this advantage, she was wrapping Shaw up in a bath sheet, murmuring something inconsequential before drying herself off. Shaw watched. Arm, arm, shoulder and neck, chest, stomach. Right leg, left leg, flip the towel around to dry the back and finally her hair. She had a delicious body, really. Slender, long limbs with curves in all those enticing places. Firm breasts and a thatch of hair at the apex of her things.

"Like what you see, Sameen?"

Sameen realised she was staring, scrowled and looked away.

After Root had towelled off Shaw's hair, she'd dressed her back and helped her into boxers and a t-shirt. At the kitchen table she presented Shaw with avocado and tomatoe on toast and a hot lemon-water.

"You need it." Root said off Shaw's raised eyebrow and Shaw figured since she'd been so ridiculously compliant why stop there, so she ate her food and drank her lemon-water while Root sipped a black tea.

By symbiotic accord they moved to the bed and Shaw climbed in. Behind her the bed dipped. A warm body edged in closer. A hand came to rest on a hip, legs pressing to the back of her thighs, her ass pulled to rest into Roots pelvis but their upper bodies not quite touching. Shaw could feel her though, feel the breath on her neck.

"Root...what did I..."

"Please...let me..." and the voice was so quiet and sad that Shaw didn't have the heart to argue. She would end her in the morning, she thought as her eyes drooped. She just registered finals words as she pulled towards sleep.

"I'm just glad that you're home"

Thanks to those who reviewed, honestly always such a nice surprise. As I said I initially was going to write so much more and explore the idea of Sameen not being the same person she was when she was taken but I realised I just wanted to write the bath scene and once that was done I lost interest, haha. So yup, you may have noticed a few clues in there that didn't get tied up. Pumped for the new season!


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